Small forward might be the trickiest of all college positions, and it generally has been the most difficult to for the best high school prospects to master. It takes time to go from being the tallest player on your high school team, scoring baskets simply from sheer size and athleticism, to being stationed farther from the goal and having to deal with that change.

This is why you often will see elite small forward prospects spend a lot of their college time playing other positions (as was the case with Jabari Parker last year at Duke) or struggling to make a rapid transition to college success (as was the case in previous years with Harrison Barnes at North Carolina, or DeMar DeRozan at USC).

So why does this list of likely/potential All-American small forwards include so many freshmen? It says a lot about them, and about the number of players who might have fit this space but went jetting off to the pros.

If Hollis-Jefferson had established himself as a reliable shooter, he would not be on top of this list. He’d be on the NBA early entry list, waiting for his name to be called in the draft. He’s got the rest of the package: athletic, competitive, energetic, selfless, tough, aggressive. He excels at attacking the rim and the offensive glass; few players his size are better at finishing near the basket. He is not only a willing defender, he is terrific.

And he performs under pressure: In the NCAA Tournament, Hollis-Jefferson averaged 14 points on fewer than seven shots per game. Arizona lost a lot when Aaron Gordon chose to enter the draft, as expected, after an excellent freshman year. But Hollis-Jefferson gained an opportunity, and he will take great advantage.

In his fourth game for the Huskers, Petteway scored 30 points against Massachusetts. It’s not like a lot of people noticed, though, because he was playing for Nebraska against UMass. That’s not a headline-grabber. When he scored 35 in late January against Minnesota, that was nice, but it came after the Huskers opened Big Ten play with five losses in their first six games. Which seemed like no surprise.

And then came February, and it wasn’t long before people were talking about whether Petteway might be the Big Ten player of the year. What changed? He changed, a little, and his impact changed a bunch. The Huskers started to win conference games and eventually reached their first NCAA Tournament in half a generation. Petteway was at the center of that, and this time he’ll be expected to make the Huskers a consistent winner, not just one that squeezed into the back of the tournament field.

Midway through last season, Dawson was playing so poorly that when a film session began to center on the deficiencies in his performance, he slammed his hand on a desk in frustration and broke his hand — which cost him nearly a month’s worth of games. It turned out his critics were right, because when he began to play like he could, he became Big Ten Tournament MVP.

So it’s all great now, right? Well, it’s not entirely on Dawson, now. He’ll be surrounded by far less experience given the departures of Keith Appling, Gary Harris and Adreian Payne. And Dawson quite possibly will be playing less at his familiar power forward position, and more often at the small forward spot that’s gotten less of his time. So there’ll be lots of adjustments, but the reality is that Dawson will need to play wherever and however he can be great.

LeVert is just a few pounds away from being the best NBA prospect on this list. Because no one better combines the required offensive skills: shooting, passing, ballhandling. He’s no Scottie Pippen on defense, but that might be resolved provided he continues to add strength. He rebounds well for someone who lacks the ability to hold down the opponent with one hand and grab the ball with the other — and don’t think a guy can’t get away with that.

With Glenn Robinson and Nik Stauskas gone, LeVert will be UM’s first offensive option. In most ways, he’s the perfect replacement for Stauskas, whose ability as a creator turned him from a jumpshooting specialist into an All-American. LeVert is even a better ballhandler, which leads to opportunities for his own offense or distributing to teammates.

5. Justise Winslow, Duke | 6-foot-6, 218 pounds | Freshman

He’s not supposed to be a shooter, but he hit 50 percent of his attempts in the 2013 Nike Peach Jam tournament, and 1-of-2 in the Hoop Summit. He wasn’t supposed to be a scorer on the USA Basketball entry in the FIBA U-19 World Championships, but somehow he managed to rank fourth on the squad while coming off the bench and taking just the fifth-most shots.

Winslow is ideally suited to be an elite college wing defender, something Duke most definitely can use following a season in which the Devils struggled to stop a lot of their best opponents. He may not fit the typical definition of a star player, but he could make that sort of impact.

This season figures to be different for Dekker as he likely moves to play more frequently at his natural position. He operated primarily at power forward as a sophomore in order to accommodate Josh Gasser’s installation in the lineup at small forward, but Gasser can slide back to shooting guard now that Ben Brust is gone, and Nigel Hayes, following his surprise success as a freshman, can take over for Dekker inside.

That’ll mean Dekker gets fewer matchups against less mobile defenders, but also that he absorbs less punishment at both ends of the court. Dekker scored in double figures in four of the six games in which Hayes played 25 or more minutes, so there is reason to believe they can work nicely together.

Why do we think Shepard is going to be a star? Because every year someone on the SDSU roster becomes a star, from Kawhi Leonard to Jamaal Franklin to Xavier Thames just last year. Shepard was the Aztecs’ No. 2 scorer last year, behind Thames, so it looks as though it will be his turn.

Of course, it’s not at all that easy, and if Shepard were a genuine jumpshooter we might not be talking in the conditional sense (and it’s possible he’d have wound up at a school with even greater basketball prestige than SDSU, which is saying something). Shepard was quite comfortable hiding his perimeter deficiencies as a complementary player; can he overcome them and carry the burden?

8. Daniel Hamilton, Connecticut | 6-foot-6, 175 pounds | Freshman

With no more Shabazz Napier or DeAndre Daniels, UConn is going to need a scorer. At least one. And if you come from the Hamilton family, scoring is what you do.

Daniel is the brother of Jordan Hamilton, who managed to shoot 300 times in less than 20 minutes per game as a freshman at Texas, and who accumulated 852 field goal attempts in his college career — which lasted only two seasons before he left for the NBA. Daniel might not be quite as versatile a scorer as his brother, and he’s not as big, but he can get busy. Coach Kevin Ollie is going to want Daniel to be judicious, but there’s an opportunity to make a difference.

9. Kelly Oubre, Kansas | 6-foot-7, 190 pounds | Freshman

Oubre’s jumpshot still is in the process of being refined, but when it’s working he is a sight to behold. He is a spectacular athlete who’ll only grow stronger as he is introduced to college-level weight training. He and Wayne Selden will be a mighty imposing set of wing players.

Oubre is a lefty who hit 39 3-pointers in 24 appearances during Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League campaign in 2013. He drives the ball well to mid-range, which is primarily how he came to average 15.7 points against that level of competition. His development as a jumpshooter, though, could be a major part of KU’s plans to contend for the NCAA title.

Haws is going to outscore pretty much everyone on this list, but he did that last year, as well. The ticket to stardom is not merely scoring the most points. When Kevin Durant or Michael Jordan did it, it has been as part of making an elite team even better. Haws is not working counter to his team’s interests, but his team hasn’t been quite good enough for all those points to add up to a lot.

Could this year be different? Having Haws back to fill the nets won't hurt.